Johnny Layne was involved in sports from an early age.  Johnny was introduced to weightlifting while playing football in junior high school in Cross Lanes, West Virginia.  Like most kids that get into lifting weights, he gravitated towards bench pressing and eventually competed and won his weight class at 15 years old.   Johnny continued to play football through his high school years and was introduced to racquetball by his father during that time and began competing in racquetball tournaments.  In the mid 90’s, Johnny got involved in powerlifting and competed in the WV State powerlifting championships and won the bench press of the NASA (Natural Athlete Strength Association) WV State Championships.  Johnny has competed in many state, regional and national racquetball tournaments as an E-Force sponsored player.   In 2004, Johnny started training in Japanese Ju-Jitsu and after several months of that shifted Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.   Johnny continues to train in this discipline and competes in submission grappling tournaments when he can.  Johnny has also trained in boxing and Muay Thai.

Johnny was introduced to CrossFit in September 2008 by a co-worker and was hooked from the start.  After relocating to the Farimont area from Charleston, he was left without a “box” and CrossFit family to train with so he joined his love of CrossFit with his desire to train people and opened CrossFit Intense.  In 2012 CrossFit Intense moved to their third location as steady growth has been experienced since the box opened in 2009.  

In 2012 Johnny was approached by two Morgantown businessmen as they realized that Johnny's dedication to training his members at Intense was something that the Morgantown area lacked.  After a few meetings discussing options for opening a CrossFit affiliate in Morgantown, Kent McBride, Lincoln Kinkade and Johnny opened CrossFit Morgantown which experienced phenomenal growth in the immediate months after opening on October 1, 2012 which growth continues to astound everyone today.  It is apparent that Johnny's training formula works.  

In January 2013 another affiliate opened as a direct result of Johnny's vision as CrossFit 1863 (owned by Johnny, his wife, Mindy, and their friends, Randy and Elizabeth Hensley), came to fruition in Harrison County, West Virginia.  

Johnny has years of experience, a heart for people, a love of coaching and a passion for CrossFit that is unsurpassed in the north central West Virginia area.  Where others only talk about training people, Johnny actually follows through with training people.  You will not find a more well-rounded individual to help you meet your fitness goals as Johnny can take your raw talent and turn you into the athlete you always dreamed of. 

Certifications:

CrossFit Level 1

CrossFit Powerlifting-Westside Barbell

CrossFit Olympic Lifting